1. Field of the Invention
This invention lies in the field of methods for internally flavoring hulled cereal grain, especially popcorn, and to the flavored grain products so produced.
2. Prior Art
Since earliest times, hulled cereal grains have been cultured and used for food by man and domesticated animals. Various processes have been developed for treating whole grain. Thus, for example, Legendre U.S. Pat. No. 1,702,735 describes grain preservation by adding thereto a powder containing lime, calcium carbonate, and sodium carbonate.
Madrazo et al teaches contacting whole grain with an alkaline aqueous solution at elevated temperature.
Gulstad U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,727 describes steeping grain (including corn) in a lime-water solution and thereafter explosively puffing the resulting kernels and milling the puffed grain into flour or meal.
Rogers et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,358,250 reports treating grain prior to milling to impart to flour subsequently milled therefrom a vitamin and soluble salt content, the Rogers et al process involving steeping the grain in water "at a suitable temperature" to infuse thereinto a vitamin and salt extract.
Anthony U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,275 hydrates dry grains using continuously re-circulating water. The water may contain additives such as vitamins, nutrients (no flavorants or colorants), and minerals.
McAlister U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,651 reports dispersing water into cereal grain and applying microwave energy thereto while simultaneously reducing atmospheric pressure. In one embodiment, sugar, glucose, oil and gelatin cover "each grain" before microwave treatment.
The acceptance of popcorn as a stable food product is well established and with its acceptance has also come the addition thereto of flavors, such as salt, butter, cheese and caramel, to enhance and improve consumer acceptance. Methods for flavor addition to popped popcorn are well known and some attempts have been made to externally fix or coat flavorant compositions to popcorn prior to the popping thereof in an effort to improve flavor distribution and execution in the popped corn.
For example, Nairn U.S. Pat. No. 2,518,247 describes coating popcorn kernels to inhibit change in moisture content thereof during storage using a coating composition of vegetable and animal fats and oils, salt, and a flavorant.
Kracauer U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,133 mixes popcorn kernels with shortening, a lipophilic surfactant, and water prior to popping.
Donnarumma et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,730 describes flavoring particular grain products by applying thereto a composition of flavoring agent, film-former, and vehicle.
Grunewald-Kirstein U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,814 describes coating popcorn at elevated temperature with a liquid comprised of oil or fat containing dissolved sugar.
Caccavale et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,091 describes popcorn treated with cooking oil and encapsulated flavoring substances, as does Young et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,281. See also Mason et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,066. Gorham, Jr. et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,255, Tomlinson U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,567 and Martin U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,407.
Also, various packaged products and preparation methods therefor are described wherein unpopped popcorn is coated with a popping composition involving the use of oil or fat which can sometimes contain flavorants and colorants.
Evidently, the popcorn industry has heretofore avoided the presence of excess moisture or water in the vicinity of popcorn for the evident reason that water tended to impair the popability of popcorn. Contemporary literature does disclose, however, that the moisture content of popable popcorn can be varied somewhat without significantly impairing popability, but if a maximum or a minimum moisture level is exceeded for a given popcorn, then popping is impaired. Popcorn popping reportedly occurs because the pericarp of heated popcorn acts as a pressure vessel which ruptures under internal steam pressure to produce expansion of the endosperm; see, for instance, the article by Hoseney et al in J. of Cer. Sci. (1983) 43-52 entitled: "Mechanism of Popcorn Popping."
So far as now known, all prior art attempts to improve flavor execution in popped popcorn by treating unpopped popcorn kernels have involved only externally (relative to the unpopped popcorn) applied coatings or the like.
A process for producing dyed popcorn kernels utilizing an aqueous solution treatment followed by drying is reported in Schwarzkopf U.S. Pat. No. 3,537,861. However, dyes are submitted to be different from, not equivalent to, and not suggestive of organic flavorants. The Schwarzkopf conditions of dying characteristically apparently result in a minimum of deep dye penetration into the endosperm structure of individual popcorn kernels. Also, the amount of dye taught by Schwarzkopf for his coloration of individual popcorn kernels appears to be generally less than the amount of flavorant typically needed in internal flavoring of popcorn as in my present invention to produce a natural type or level of odor and taste in the popped kernels.
So far as is presently known, however, no prior art teachings exist wherein hulled cereal grain, particularly popcorn, has been internally flavored with organic flavorant.
Furthermore, no art is now known wherein an internal flavoring of hulled cereal grain has been accomplished in such a way that the product material, as in the case of popcorn especially, is not only shelf life stable, but also can be popped or otherwise further and finally processed into an edible food without an appreciable loss of kernel popability, or endosperm expansion capability, or other property associated with normal untreated starting hulled cereal grain.
Moreover, no prior art is known where an internally flavored hulled cereal grain product can have during such further processing (e.g., popping or the like) a distinct aroma of a predetermined or desired character, and the resulting product can have a distinct taste comparable to that of a natural product whose flavor the flavorant resembles.
The art needs new and improved methods of flavoring hulled cereal grain both for improving and strengthening the usability of conventional techniques for hulled cereal grain processing and utilization, and also for making possible entirely new and very useful food products based thereon.